Zika is for a long time

Zika virus declared a long-term danger to humanity

Sergey Vasiliev, Naked Science

The World Health Organization (WHO) has removed the Zika virus from its list of emergencies. However, the status of the disease has not been reduced, but increased: now more serious and long-term measures will be taken to counteract it.

The status of a "public health emergency" was introduced in relation to the epidemic of the Zika virus, when not too much was known about the disease, its causative agent, consequences and features of the spread. However, over the past time, a link has been reliably established between a mild infection of pregnant women and severe consequences for the developing fetus. The ongoing spread of the virus across the planet has also been demonstrated – a process that could not be stopped by the first series of measures.

The WHO-distributed press release Fifth meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) regarding microcephaly, other neurological disorders and Zika virus removes this status from the disease, and now Zika refers to problems for which a "medium-term or long-term action program" is being implemented. This means the consistent implementation of a wide range of measures, starting from comprehensive studies of the virus itself and its mechanisms of action.

In fact, it is still poorly understood even how different the strains of the Zika virus are and how different the consequences of infecting pregnant women and other people with them are. It is unknown how long the acquired immunity from the disease persists and how effective it is against other strains of the virus. It is unclear exactly how many cases of microencephaly are caused by the disease: about 2,100 have already been confirmed, but another 3,000 remain in question. In the end, even the exact number of infected is unknown: in healthy adults, the disease can be almost asymptomatic.

WHO also declares the priority of work on a vaccine against the Zika virus. At the moment, about 30 candidates have been created, but only a few of them have started the first stages of clinical trials.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  24.11.2016